Monday, October 26, 2015

The Kickoff match this month was just a rematch of something we saw on Raw this week. Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler and Neville took on King Barrett, Sheamus and Rusev. Now, the heels won on Raw, which made it obvious that the faces would win here because they just have to keep that 50/50 booking going. Despite the clear outcome, I felt that this was a fun match. Cesaro went nuts and stole the show when he got the hot tag, really adding to this match. Barrett ate the pin after taking signature moves from all of his opponents. Also, on the Kickoff show, Renee Young was wearing a bit of a revealing dress and the camera never did a closeup of her. Later in the show, they did after she put on a jacket. Strange and unfortunate and unnecessary censorship. Anyway, fun match. ***1/4

The John Cena United States Title Open Challenge kicked off the show. It was answered b Zeb Colter in surprising fashion. Instead of bringing out Jack Swagger, he brought out a returning Alberto Del Rio in a shocker. I pretty much marked out as a Del Rio fan. Del Rio and Cena faced off in a match that unfortunately, was about as good as their old matches and I don't really remember liking any. This only went about seven minutes and saw Del Rio win with a superkick to the head. I liked the surprise finish but it came off as anti-climactic after everything that Cena kicked out of during the open challenges. The match was decent at best, but I bump it up a bit for the cool moment. **3/4The war between Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns came to an end in the second match. That was absolutely what this was. War. It needed to be. They went out and used chairs, tables and kendo sticks in good ways. At one point, Reigns beat on Bray with two kendo sticks at once. Outside of that, Bray got to look like a total monster. It was the kind of showing that he isn't given often enough. The highest spot came from a massive spear off the apron through a table. The finish came from another spear after about 23 minutes and Reigns won. I was totally okay with this because of how great the match was and it was an example of how to keep Bray strong in a loss. Unlike the ones against Cena and Undertaker, where he looked like a chump. Reigns joins elite company as a guy with more than three four star matches from me this year. ****

Up next, the New Day came out for the Tag Team Title match. They cut a promo bashing the Lakers and mourning Xavier Woods, who missed the show due to a table bump, but he was apparently really getting married. They worked a decent match with the Dudleys. Kofi Kingston pulled an Eddie Guerrero and tried to fake it as if Bubba hit him with the trombone but the referee didn't buy it. I expected this to lead to a 3D but instead, Kofi was able to score with Trouble in Paradise. Wisely booked and the right decision was made, but the match itself once again disappointed. I've liked the promos in the feuds but not really the matches. At least New Day was their usual fun selves. **1/2The Divas Championship was on the line and everyone was barred from ringside for it. Now, people like to give Nikki Bella shit, but she was surely the MVP of this match. She targeted Charlotte's back, which made way more sense than when she targets the arm for no reason. They messed up a big time top rope spot that nearly killed both. Nikki busted out an impressive Alabama slam on the apron near the finish. Unfortunately, Charlotte failed to sell any of this as she applied the figure eight to win. She should have just done a regular figure four. It wasn't a great performance for Charlotte, but overall, it was a good match. Charlotte's lack of selling hurt the final score for me. ***

I guess that Seth Rollins didn't think Kane was worthy of the all white gear that John Cena and Sting faced the last few months. I don't think the build for this has been really good but at least split personality Kane has been entertaining. Here, Demon Kane wasn't. Seth Rollins wasn't on his A game either but he really seemed to try. Unfortunately, it just wasn't working. This only went about fourteen minutes but felt like thirty. There was nothing about this that you needed to see and is completely skippable. It was the worst title match in Seth's run, even more than the mediocre Steel Cage match with Randy Orton. Seth won clean with a Pedigree, so at least that was a positive. Corporate Kane is now fired. *3/4In the slot before our main event, Kevin Owens defended the IC Title against the Ryback. Ryback was sporting some pretty rad Halloween themed gear. I rather enjoyed their Night of Champions match and how they worked a body part and stuck with it. Here, not so much. They kind of went through the motions and the match was really just kind of there. It felt like something you'd see on Raw where it was there to fill time. That's unfortunate since I think they could have topped their previous match. Instead, Owens wins with a popup powerbomb in a match with zero drama after about five minutes. **

I've been vocal about not caring about this feud in 2015 and I stick by that thought process. However, they managed to go out and nearly top their original Hell in a Cell in 2002. Both guys bladed, which is special considering this era. It was the war that it needed to be. They told a good story and didn't overdo it on the kickouts that a lot of big matches tend to. Brock exposed the wood under the mat and took a tombstone on it for a close two count. He then used a low blow, which makes perfect sense considering Undertaker's attacks in recent months, to set up an F5 on the wood and defeat the Undertaker. Better than I expected and a really good match. My second favorite of the night. ***3/4After the match, Undertaker got to his feet, only for the Wyatt Family to show up. All four of them attacked Undertaker and then carried him out of the arena. It's been reported that Undertaker will work Survivor Series, which seemed dedicated to him, so I'm interested in what comes next as long as Taker puts Bray over this time.I came into this show incredibly disinterested. The WWE went out and put on their second best Pay-Per-View this year, behind WrestleMania. The two Hell in a Cell matches were both pretty great, there was a solid women's match and the excellent surprise of Alberto Del Rio's return and title win. The rest of the card was okay at best, but it made for a good show overall. 7/10.